Dan Grimaldi, Ian Lithgow and More to Star in THE PEOPLE VERSUS LENNY BRUCE Off-Broadway

The world premiere of “The People Versus Lenny Bruce” a play by Susan Charlotte, based on the legal case of legendary lawyer Martin Garbus, will be presented Off-Broadway this spring. Directed by Antony Marsellis, performances will begin on Thursday, May 7 at 7:30pm at Theatre Row – Theatre Four. The production is scheduled to run through Sunday, June 28, 2026. 

The story of Lenny Bruce and his New York trial is more relevant now than ever. A heart-breaking and thought provoking story filled with humor, this theatrical adaptation is the story of comic Lenny Bruce and his lawyer Martin Garbus who tried to save his client from the system – and from himself.

The cast for The People Versus Lenny Bruce is Johnny Anthony (The Other Americans, “American Horror Story”) as Lenny Bruce, Timothy Doyle (Fortune’s Fool) as Jules Feiffer, Dan Grimaldi (“The Sopranos”) as Richard H. Kuh, Ian Lithgow (Boy Gets Girl, “Third Rock From the Sun”) as Herbert Ruhe, Jonathan Spivey (Smart Blonde) as Forrest Johnson, Stephen Schnetzer (Filumena, “Another World”) as Martin Garbus/Narrator, and Roberta Wallach (The Diary of Anne Frank) as Dorothy Kilgallen. Michael J. Osgood, former Deputy Chief of the NYPD/Special Victim’s Unit, is Co-Producer.

At the conclusion of the trial, License Inspector Herbert Ruhe, the Prosecuter’s witness, said the following to Attorney Allen Schwartz: “We aimed for Bruce. We picked him out of all the performers. I know he was not obscene, yet in a way I feel he had to be convicted.” These words were spoken in 1964 but they could have easily been said in 2026. Jimmy Kimmel, Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times all referenced Lenny Bruce when speaking of how the first amendment was under attack. When Inspector Ruhe testified against Bruce, he knew Bruce was innocent. He not only rationalized his lies, he bragged about them!